allergic croup or asmtha in a 6yr.

[lost mom]

my so is 6yr.he gets this croup sounding cough for about a month.He has been getting this cough since he has been five months old.He has been on every thing from albuterol, flovent40&110,singuliar,loratadine,zertic,nebulizer,pulmicort respules,and steroid shots. I have no idea what is going on? Please somebody tell me something.I am so tired of taking him to the doctor and they tell me that I need to keep giving him more steroids. The steroids is not doing nothing. They say he has asthma but there is no wheezing. He just barks like a dog for hours. Sometimes he loses his voice because of all the coughing. Nobody can tell me anything because croup is not really found in kids of the age he is? My son see a pumalonary specailist. But he just keeps switching his meds.around. He has also been on prelone and has had an t&a done.

[National Jewish]

This is obviously a frustrating situation for you.  It is possible to have croup at 6 years old.  It is not a common age, but is seen even in older children.  Asthma and croup are very different problems.  It has to be clear as to the diagnosis before making any real comments about how to deal with the problem.

Seeing a pediatric pulmonologist is a very good idea.  I would suggest you discuss your frustration with him.  It is not so hard to make a diagnosis of asthma in a 6 year old.  If you are able to do this, you can take some definitive steps in treatment.  If it is not asthma, then the approach is totally different.

[ozark]

have they checked him for tracheal and or bronchial malasia??  this is when there's a weakness in the muscles and they dont close as well as should be and can cause this symptom....have they done a bronchoscopy on him?  i'd check this out or look on line for sypmtoms and see if they match.....good lluck

[littlevicko]

hi,my 10 year old was sick from dec.-may-a bad crouping cough with excessive mucus,coughed so much and so hard the whites of her eyes turned red,her doctors kept treating her for asthma,inhalers,nebulizer,steroids,etc-she gained over 20 pounds during this time from the steroids,and still wasnt getting better,on every kind of antibiotic there is,well i finally got fedup and took her 3 hour drive to memphis to lebonheur childrend hospital one of the best where she stayed in all over 2 weeks,they took every kind of test,for cyctic fibrosis,tb,pertussis,whooping cough,upper and lower gi because she started having some blood in her cough and stool,they scoped her lungs,they didnt stop untill they found the answer,it was kind a mstery to them,well she had acid reflux which will cause a bad cough,infected esophagus(fungal)mainly from the steroids,her blood pressure was high because of steroids,she also had sinus disease,100 percent blockage,shes now on prevacid for reflux,she just had sinus surgery where they removed 2 cists and removed adnoids again(she had them removed last july and they grew back??)and unblocked her sinuses,shes doing so much better,no coughing and she didnt even have asthma come to find out,so please get a second opion,especially at his age-hope this info helps out,you would be suprised the other things that will cause a chronic cough,hope he gets well,littlevick0

[Inanga]

i had a chronic cough for years that was cused by excessive mucous from the sinuses. Had frequetly recurring sinus infections too. Eventually discovered myself that I had food allergies to SOY and maybe wheat & gluten. Since avoiding i have been brething free and easy - unbelievable change. I went though chest xrays, etc to try so source my chest pains but they were from coughing all the time. I also taught myself to proactively avoid the cough by sort of sucking the stuff down into my mouth (and spit into a a tissue etc) before the stuff had a chance to go down my throat where it would have to be coughed out. i had months of steroids and anytihistamies to try to control the symptioms and was give an astha inhaler by one gp even there was no indication it was asthma. The best result i got from steroids was a prednisone injections which calmed down the allergic reactions for a while. My avoidance diet is so much better than treating the symptioms. best of luck.

[maxcamps]

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[kcri]

My son is 5 years old and for the last 2 years he has had a severe croup episode every month from Sept to May.  In April 2005, he crouped 4 times.  The cough wakes him from his sleep, turns to croup and stridor.  We give him 6mg-8mg of dexamethasone and that eventually stops it after several hours of croupy cough and severe difficulty breathing. We have had several trips to the ER.

My ENT did a scope and diagnosed him with acid reflux. The coughing did not stop after he has on prevacid and she later removed his adnoids.  There is also a question of sleep apnia (apnea) and we are going for a sleep study this month.

I am happy to report that his last croup episode was in the end of May 2005, but I fear for Sept.  

He also has asthma and is currently on the following meds:

prevacid 30mg
pulmicort turboinhaler
nasonex
claritin

It sounds like a lot of medication, but I have not had to give him dexamethasone (decatron) since the end of April. I was very concerned (and so were the Doctors)  that he was getting too many steroids.

Also, my allergist suspected malasia, but the pediatric pulminologist is ruling that out.

Good luck.  I know it is very scary when your child is coughing and having difficulty breathing and a challange to keep them calm.  When it happens to my son he cries "I can't breath, I need a Doctor" and it breaks my heart.  While waiting for the steroids to work, we often drive towards the hospital because it calms my son knowing that we are heading to he hospital.  Sometimes we go in and sometimes we don't depending on the episode.